Coalpail.com Forum

Hi,

Other than the great looking Pictorial posted by Stoker_man and the downloadable manual, are there any other pics and detailed instructions posted by the forum members on the build and install of their DF520? Any advice or issues that people came across that were not necessarily addressed or tips that make it easy to assemble.

Thanks for any help!

Normy

Normy, I don't have any pics, but you can look over the site and find EFM's, AHS's, Axeman-Andersons, Harman's, Keystokers.
What are you looking for? New or used, rice coal burner, or a pea coal unit. Hot water I assume. There is a dealer in South Central Mass called CSM that does EFM, Keystokers for new units. I have talked to him several times and he's a nice guy. Runs a machine shop as a business, got into coal because he couldn't find anyone to help him get a coal boiler to heat his machine shops. I think he even sells bulk and bagged now.
CSM 248 Main St , Monson, Ma 01057 (413) 267-4334 Google CSM, Monson Ma.

What are you going to heat? 'This old house' monster or a regular sized home? Chimney info? Oil or Gas now? Separate flues?
I assume you are supplementing a regular heating system. Going to go all coal, not a duel fuel rig?
I know, toooo many questions! I do know of an Axeman-Anderson 130 boiler and also a 520 EFM. I run two AA 260's in apt buildings I built, an EFM 520 at my home, and an EFM 900 (big boy) at a commercial building I built. The forum members will help you out. Understand there are no new units available anywhere.

Normy, do you notice that someone needs to change the system clock? It is not on DST yet. It is just one hour late.

I posted some picts on my build thread. EFM 520 build thread. Its not to far back on the list of topics.

There are a few "build" threads of efm units. Some might be in the "Boilers" section too.

Hi, I already got the DF 520 used from one of the forum members. Going to put the 520 on the flue and the oil will eventually be power vented. Also got 6 ton rice delivered, but i'll keep CSM in mine when it's time to order more coal.

I'm going to attempt to build the boiler myself but I think I will need a plumber to tie it into the forced hot water system. I'm leaning on running them in parallel, but maybe a plumber would recommend in series??? Don't know which is benifical in my case?

Thanks for the info !

whistlenut wrote:Normy, I don't have any pics, but you can look over the site and find EFM's, AHS's, Axeman-Andersons, Harman's, Keystokers.
What are you looking for? New or used, rice coal burner, or a pea coal unit. Hot water I assume. There is a dealer in South Central Mass called CSM that does EFM, Keystokers for new units. I have talked to him several times and he's a nice guy. Runs a machine shop as a business, got into coal because he couldn't find anyone to help him get a coal boiler to heat his machine shops. I think he even sells bulk and bagged now.
CSM 248 Main St , Monson, Ma 01057 (413) 267-4334 Google CSM, Monson Ma.

What are you going to heat? 'This old house' monster or a regular sized home? Chimney info? Oil or Gas now? Separate flues?
I assume you are supplementing a regular heating system. Going to go all coal, not a duel fuel rig?
I know, toooo many questions! I do know of an Axeman-Anderson 130 boiler and also a 520 EFM. I run two AA 260's in apt buildings I built, an EFM 520 at my home, and an EFM 900 (big boy) at a commercial building I built. The forum members will help you out. Understand there are no new units available anywhere.

efm's are very simple reliable units......my efm hot air furnace sat dormant in pieces in a leaky steel shed for at least 20 yrs before I rebuilt it.

I considered running my EFM in series with the oil boiler. I heard series was better because it keeps the whole system hot and is better for corrosion control. However, with the trouble of another flue, I decided to just dump the oil boiler. I chose EFM mainly for the oil and coal option. The added expense of another flue will most likely negate the cost of the oil burner option. Also, there's the room of keeping two boilers.

Since I put the EFM into operation, it's exceeded my expectations. I just have to put the oil burner option in for when I go on trips.

Check out my install. It was a challenge because of original construction combustible clearances. I ended up trashing sheet rock, wood studs, installing metal studs, cement board, and threw in a heat shield for good measure (I do have to sleep here). Watch for combustible clearances from the pipe (18"), room to remove the stoker, and clearance from combustibles to the sides (30" which seems big given the temperature of the skin). I wanted to do everything according to code. I just got sign off from the town code inspector last week. Don't ever the possibility of an insurance company denying liability due to some small error!

Depending on how resourceful you are, it may be a challenge. I personally was not going to pay a plumber to put pipe together. Code inspector thought I saved $5000 installing myself.

By: Normy On: Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:54 pm

Hi, I already got the DF 520 used from one of the forum members.
Must of been that Guy with a big loud Blue Dodge Truck

I installed mine myself and I am an auto mechanic not a plumber. It took me 25x longer than I'm sure it would have taken a pro but my labor is free and I know how to fix it now. It's really not hard to install, the directions off the EFM site are all you need.

Normy,
I installed my EFM520 in parallel with my low mass boiler. I liked the parallel because in the summer I can shut the coal down if I want and not have to keep the water hot in both boilers. Also I can take either one down for maintenance and not lose the use of the other while I am working on it. The same was true while I was plumbing the EFM 520 into the sysytem. I wiredit up with a Honeywell L6006A aquastat on the coal boiler that controls which boiler gets AC power to run. In automatic mode only one boiler will run at a time. I did wire in bypass switches that I can close to make either one or both boilers have AC power at the same time. This is good for maintenace problems. I can have one powered up while I am working/testing it and I can have the other powered up at the same time to supply heat. You will want to put swing check valves in the line on each boiler to prevent one unit from backfeeding into the other. I'd be glad to share pictures or other info that I can.